AMC Theaters to Close All Cinemas for Up to 3 Months Due to Coronavirus

UPDATE: AMC Theaters, America's largest movie cinema chain, will close its nearly 700 locations across the United States for at least six to twelve weeks due to the coronavirus pandemic, the company announced Monday.

AMC's announcement comes on the heels of Regal Cinemas' earlier announcement that it was also closing down temporarily to help slow the spread of COVID-19.

In an effort to slow the spread of coronavirus, AMC Theaters announced that it's reducing capacity in each of its auditoriums by at least 50%, from Saturday, March 14 through April 30.

AMC will cap ticket sales for each showtime in each of its theatre’s auditoriums to half of the normal capacity. In auditoriums with more than 500 seats, AMC will further cap ticket sales to a maximum of 250.

Per Deadline, AMC is the first theater chain to address the COVID-19 pandemic and, as the largest theater chain in the country, is also actively complying with "all local authorities’ directives on social gathering and is further reducing the availability of tickets to comply with any current or future federal, state or local governmental order."

Each theaters' health and safety cleaning protocols have also been enhanced “to ensure that at least once per hour within an AMC building, the theatre team is cleaning high touch point areas, including kiosks, counter tops, restroom areas, glass, handrails and doorknobs.”